Beware of Cat by Vincent Wyckoff

Author:Vincent Wyckoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Published: 2009-08-04T16:00:00+00:00

GUS WAS AN OLD schnauzer mixed-breed who belonged to Karl, a retired letter carrier who lived on my route. Karl had been retired for more years than I had worked for the post office. Every now and then he came outside to discuss the latest changes in the job. One day while Karl and I stood at his door talking, Gus shot outside and hurled himself down the steps. He tore a direct line across the front yard into the street. I looked up at Karl, thinking maybe he should call out to him, but he just stood there, calmly watching his dog beat a straight-line path away from us. With no fences to impede his progress, Gus ran full speed through yards and alleys, never breaking course or his short-legged stride, until he was finally lost from sight.

“Geez, Karl, I’m really sorry,” I said, still stunned by the emphatic way in which Gus had made his escape.

“Well, don’t worry about it,” Karl replied, resignation lending a sigh to his voice. “He runs away whenever he can. He’ll go all the way to the freeway where that tall fence stops him. Then he’ll run back and forth looking for a way through. He’ll tire out soon enough. I’ll just drive over there in a few minutes and pick him up.”

I tried to make light of it. “At least he’s getting some exercise.”

Karl smiled. “You know, that dog hates me. He belonged to my wife, and I promised I’d take care of him after she was gone. But he acts like he’s in a prisoner of war camp. Maybe he blames me for her death, I don’t know. He used to sit in my wife’s lap when we watched TV, but now he lies in the corner watching me, like he’s plotting his next opportunity to escape.”

It was like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, riding his motorcycle along the barbwire fence looking for an escape route from the Nazi prison camp. And in the same way that Steve McQueen was always captured and returned to prison, Gus was always picked up at the freeway fence and brought home.

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